Top "Weird News" Stories of 2017 … so far – Napa Valley Register
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These are the most-read “weird news” stories posted to our website in 2017. Enjoy a look back at the weird stories you may have missed.
(39) updates to this series since Updated
DUNDALK, Md. — A stolen bite out of his grilled cheese sandwich led a Maryland man to fire a shot inside his house and barricade himself for hours.
NEWPORT, N.C. (AP) — A sheriff’s office says a woman narrowly escaped being carjacked after spotting what she thought was a child sitting in t…
PHILADELPHIA — Some joggers weren’t joking when they said they were going out for a “brief run.”
MARION, Ohio — The mother of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who messaged police on Facebook for help with math homework says the responding officer’s…
BANGKOK — Tossing coins in a fountain for luck is a popular superstition, but a similar belief brought misery to a sea turtle in Thailand from…
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A long-haul semitrailer driver from Minnesota says he felt like a “bad cat dad” when he had to leave his feline traveling co…
MILTON, Massachusetts — Sweaters for chickens? It sounds like a joke, but a plucky group of retirees in suburban Boston has hatched a plan to …
KENT, Ohio — Ohio police say a suspected shoplifter called 911 for help after she hid in a fitting room at closing time and got locked inside …
LYNN, Mass. — A Massachusetts man has a ready answer when asked for his two cents’ worth: He presents a check he got from the government.
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — A craving for a McDonald’s cheeseburger apparently prompted an 8-year-old Ohio boy to take his 4-year-old sister for a …
FRUITA, Colo. — Colorado officials say a man who broke into a home left handwritten notes in the kitchen, ate cookies, drank milk and took a n…
PLAISTOW, N.H. — Police say a man donned an orange Home Depot apron and posed as an employee to steal air conditioners in New Hampshire. But a…
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania woman has made a dress from more than 10,000 Starburst candy wrappers given to her by her high school swee…
KANSAS CITY — Dozens of thirsty police officers responded to an “emergency” call to visit a lemonade stand run by a 3-year-old aspiring cop in…
VAIL, Colo. — Police say it wasn’t a burglary — just a black bear that stomped, briefly, on piano keys while rummaging through an apartment in…
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Some runners didn’t expect to see a bear on their Colorado race route.
SACRAMENTO — Several pigs that were left four years ago on a small island within the California Delta have become the center of residents’ deb…
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — There’s an upswing in monkey business in and around a state park in Florida, where bands of non-native rhesus macaques live along a river that’s popular with kayakers and tourists.
SALEM, N.H. (AP) — Authorities say a New Hampshire woman arrested for drug possession returned to the police station to demand the drugs be returned to her, and she was rearrested.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin man who doctors say came perilously close to death after accidentally shooting a nail into his heart while working on his house calmly drove himself to the hospital and even parked his pickup truck in the lot before walking into the emergency room.
EPPING, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire woman who became stuck in a swimming pool after the ladder broke turned to Facebook to ask for help getting out.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Rally Cat won’t be spending time frolicking as the mascot of the St. Louis Cardinals.
TANNERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Police say two women dressed as nuns attempted to rob a bank in Pennsylvania’s Poconos.
OAKLAND, Calif. — California highway officers say they stopped a young deer on a California toll bridge “for toll evasion.”
BALTIMORE — An unusual smell prompted an evacuation and a hazardous materials response at a Baltimore high school. But after five people were …
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) — A cat missing for more than a year has been reunited with his owner 120 miles (193.11 kilometers) from their Maine home.
CLACKAMAS, Ore. (AP) — A deliveryman in Oregon who heard a woman’s screams for help had his wife call 911, but when a deputy showed up it turned out the screamer was a parrot, not a woman.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A city clerk in Maine is looking for the owner of a set of dentures left behind in a polling booth.
PLAINS, Pa. (AP) — A man who always joked that he didn’t want to venture into the afterlife hungry got his wish when he was buried with two cheesesteaks from his favorite sandwich shop — Pat’s King of Steaks in Philadelphia.
NEW YORK (AP) — Santa Claus may be coming to town, but you’ll need a reservation to see him.
CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — A dog wouldn’t come out after chasing a cat into a tunnel dug by a giant tortoise in the back yard of a home in a Phoenix suburb, so homeowner Toby Passmore called for help.
PLACENTIA, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say someone left a hand grenade inside a box of donations that was dropped off by a woman at a Goodwill store in Southern California.
WINDSOR, Va. (AP) — A video of a beagle at a Virginia animal shelter scaling her cage in an escape attempt has generated calls of interest from across the country.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A tabby named Max has been playing a game of cat and mouse with some Minnesota college librarians.
GUADALUPE, Calif. (AP) — Archaeologists working in sand dunes on the central California coast have dug up an intact plaster sphinx that was pa…
WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — When a man found the only worker at an empty South Carolina Waffle House asleep, he took his meal into his own hands.
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An opossum that apparently drank bourbon after breaking into a Florida liquor store sobered up at a wildlife rescue center and was released unharmed.
SEA GIRT, N.J. (AP) — It was a squirrel that nearly stole Christmas in a New Jersey town.
DEERFIELD, N.H. (AP) — Police in a New Hampshire town are looking for Zippy, a beloved life-size elf on a shelf that usually can be seen at various sites leading up to Christmas.
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